Turn A Page
by bigwhoopers
Summary: She knew, that if this hadn't been real life, her real life, that fans would have hated her guts for inserting herself into the role of Bonnie Bennett, but there wasn't much she could do about it. She would also tell all of those fans to get in line, because they weren't the only ones who hated her for it.
1. Chapter 1

**Tell me how it is.**

Dear whom this may concern,

Usually, a story like mine starts out about how I tell you how I came to be reborn in this once fictional world. I then go on to describe being birthed, then an amazing childhood where I'm better than everyone else and everyone likes me except for the characters I wasn't to found of when I was just a fan. I would do incredibly selfish and illogical stuff, be super powerful, and hot. Maybe all of those things happen in my story, but I'm not sure, considering this was no fanfiction and was very much real life. So there were no plots, no worrying about what this character was doing or not doing. No silly biases from before. There was just then and now. Reality.

I was reborn in the body of Bonnie Bennett from the vampire diaries. Be angry all you want, but facts or facts and I didn't ask for this. I never really got the chance to sit and think about all of the things I would do differently from original Bonnie, because things were different from the jump. Anyway, when it all came to a head, there was only one thing I really wanted to change about the vampire diaries in the beginning, and that was Tanner's death. Yeah, I know.

It all will make sense when you hear my story. I learned that sometimes reality looks different when it's _your_ reality.

Sincerely,

Bonnie (Victoria) Bennett

(Turn a Page)

It took me months to realize I had been reborn and I'm still not sure if or how I died in the first place. My mind, it just sort of accepted its new reality at first, not noting how odd it was to go from a fully functioning adult, to a little thing that needed help burping and wore a diaper. But it all happened quite suddenly, one minute I was sipping contently on apple juice from a sippy cup, the next I became _aware_. A million thoughts hit me at once.

Sheila noticed the same time I did. One minute she was humming to me gently, mumbling something about being magical, next she completely stiffened. Then she was staring down at me with wide, panicked eyes.

"No," she had whispered as she held me out from her body. "No," she said more firmly. "You are not my granddaughter. You return her soul right now and leave her body." Her hold had tightened on me. "You hear me? Bring her back now!" Despite being an adult mentally, I couldn't speak yet. I could only stare at her, drop my sippy cup and whimper. The fact that eyes that had just been gazing down at me so gently, but now was filled with rage hurt.

"Mom, what are you doing?" Suddenly I was pressed into the chest of Bonnie's mother. I was very happy in that moment that it was still early and she hadn't skipped town. "You were hurting her!"

"Take a good look at that thing, child." Sheila's whole body shook. "Take a good look at that thing. She is not my granddaughter, but a life thief who stole her body."

I hadn't realized I was crying until I had felt Abby rubbing my back. "Mom, you're talking crazy." Abby denied. "How much have you drank?" She demanded.

"Nothing," Sheila snapped and pointed a crocked finger at me. "Use your powers, the ones you seem hell bent on refusing to say you have and take a good long look at that thing. That is not Bonnie!"

Abby did look at me, her brow furrowed. She licked her lips and shook her head. "Mom, this is Bonnie, my child and your grandchild."

"That is no grandchild of mine! Do you not get that the real Bonnie is lost, pushed aside because it invaded its body?"

Abby bit her lip and sighed. "Maybe we should leave. Get some rest, mom."

"Fine, go," Sheila was crying, "I will find out how to get the real Bonnie back while you take that thing away."

Abby said nothing else as she rushed out of the home, me in her arms.

(TAP)

I took the whole being reborn thing quite well, it was everyone else who seemed to have trouble with it. Sheila obviously hated my guts. She didn't have anything to do with me for the first three years, ignoring me, except for when she bounded my powers and said it was because they weren't mine to begin with. Abby noticed my lack of a childish nature and intelligence quickly, which kinda added more weight to her crazy mother's theory. She treated me differently, it was so stark opposite to how she was before. Gone were the hugs and kisses, bed time stories, and play dates with baby Caroline and Elena. I was isolated, kept in my room for hours. Abby avoided me like I was a plague, fulfilling her motherly duties by making sure I was fed, clothed, and bathed, but not much else. Rudy wasn't around often enough to feel any sort of way about me, but he treated me like a human and not a body stealing leech. He was without a doubt my favorite person in the beginning.

I'm sure some of you are wondering why I didn't try communicating better with Sheila once I got speaking down. Well, even before my second life I knew a thing or two about how stubborn black women could be. Speaking to her always ended up with her claiming I was back talking her, followed by a scolding. Oh, and don't forget the claims I was acting grown, she loved that one. She wasn't going to listen to me or believe anything said by me, someone who she thought was the reason her real granddaughter didn't exist. The show had always made it seem like Sheila was nice. Reality, not so much.

I was three years old when the parents divorced and Abby sneaked out of town like a jittery mistress out of her sugar daddy's house after his wife's girl's vacation was cut short. Rudy was restless after spending a couple of months without five star hotels on his company's bill and only with the charms of a Mystic Falls to fall back on. Plus, he wasn't sure how to handle being the single parent of a young child. I even made it easy on him by dusting off a couple of the dolls in my closet and guilt him into playing with me, I didn't want him to scare him off like I did Abby and acted like the child I was. I was happy for the company but Rudy hated Mystic Falls and loved work. It wasn't very long before he was begging Sheila to watch me for a couple of weeks while he worked to ' _provide for the grandchild you like to pretend you don't have!'_

I was left standing in the foyer of Sheila's home while Rudy ran back to the car to get my bags. Sheila stared at me distastefully while I stood and clutched a stuffed, purple hippo I had named, Moe, short for mo' money mo' problems. Moe was my only friend, sad I know. Despite being and adult, I had still been sensitive in that way children were and plus, I had always been kind of soft, even back in my other life. I was afraid of Sheila.

Rudy had come back in the house, kissed my cheek and dropped my bag down next to me, said be good before leaving without saying a word to Sheila. They really hated each other.

I just stood there, shifting on tiny feet, and avoided the older woman's gaze. I worried she was just say fuck everything and set me on fire, but she didn't do that, instead she took a step towards me and wrenched the hippo out of my bony arms.

"Your act won't fool me, life thief." She sneered. I had frowned and blinked back tears. "Now go, watch tv in the living room. I want it to be like you're not even here."

Watch tv I did. It was better than sitting in my room isolated with nothing but kiddie books as company, but still lonely. I had never watched tv so much before, I could literally quote entire series three weeks in. Sheila didn't bother me at first, just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich left sitting on the kitchen table twice a day and drunken rants in the evening reminded me she was around. I slept on the couch and didn't really move around the rest of the house, I don't think I was allowed to anyway.

It was summer and I was four then. Rudy barely called, let alone came back to visit. Grams still hated my guts and I could tell my constant presence was really bothering her then, so I made myself scarce by playing out on the front porch mostly. If I went further she would get angry.

She still yelled at me every night then, and cursed me, getting angrier and angrier with each roadblock in her search for ways of returning the real Bonnie to her body. Sometimes she would get in my face and scream, breath hot and heavy with the smell of liquor. It would be a lie if I said I wasn't afraid she would hit me. At the time I felt as if she was close to it and only got closer with each episode.

It was hard. Being this toddler who couldn't protect herself or leave an obviously horrible situation. I couldn't do much or control anything really, all but one thing. My emotions, I decided I would hate Sheila, Abby, and Rudy as well, even though sometimes I don't think I really did. I think I really just wanted them to accept me. I knew I hated myself though, I hated myself for hating my self. It wasn't my fault I ended up in Bonnie's body, but I hated to look in the mirror at my stolen face.

Anyway, it was summer the first time Sheila dragged me to the attic, tied me to the floor which had some type of symbol drawn on it. She had been mumbling to herself the whole day and I had just stayed quiet as I normally would.

I didn't do much of anything as she tied my arms out wide with rough rope. I just watched her with my stomach churning. I only started to wiggle when she stepped towards me with a thin blade.

"Mrs. Sheila, what are you doing?" I questioned as I lightly tugged at the rope. My heart galloped so fast it felt as if the floor was vibrating.

"Be still and quiet," she snapped. "It'll be over soon and you'll be back where you belong." I had whimpered when she bent beside me. "Open your hand," she demanded as she tugged at my small hand, forcing my hand to open. She swiftly cut the palm of my hand.

I had cried out, but she ignored me and moved to my bare foot, slicing that, followed by my other hand and foot. She then stood back as I bled from my hands and feet, she avoided looking at me as she began to chant.

She had chanted for what I think was hours, growing, hoarse, frustrated, and teary before she finally stopped. My wounds had stopped bleeding and I was light headed, her chanting had caused me to black out.

"Why is it not working?" She had moaned. "I'm sorry, granddaughter," for a second I thought she was talking to me and hope had filled my chest, "I will find out how to bring you back. I will not give up," then my hope was dashed.

She tried that spell I think two more times after that first time. My little hands, arms, feet and ankles were cut up and I grew to fear the sound of Sheila's heels clicking down the hall as she came to collect me.

When I turned five I found Moe underneath the kitchen sink, got him back, and hid him underneath the couch when I wasn't clutching and crying into fake purple fur.

When she realized that it was working didn't mean she gave up, no there were more spells she tried. Most of them painful for me and was required I bleed somehow.

I don't know what happened, but Rudy stopped coming back and I knew Sheila had become my legal guardian. That didn't mean anything, she was obsessed with getting 'Bonnie' back, she wasn't about to let me get away.

I had been sitting at the kitchen table, slowly eating another peanut butter sandwich. I remember my body was sore because the spell Sheila had tried a week before had made most of my body cramp for a full day. She had been quiet that week, not bothering me much, it was a relief as much as it was a worry.

I should have known something was up. She had been drinking more lately and seemed more unhinged. I heard her heels moving down the stairs and the piece of sandwich I had been eating stuck going down. I had fidgeted as she entered the kitchen, but couldn't bring myself to look at her.

"Come, life thief, we are going for a ride." Her thin hands found my shoulder and I tensed but slid from my chair.

"Where are we going Mrs. Sheila?" I asked, nerves making me talkative.

"Don't worry about it," she said coldly and pushed me towards the kitchen door.

(TAP)

To this day I don't remember what happened exactly, just waking up in the arms of some police man as he carried me into the hospital as fast as he could. I had been covered in mud and bleeding from my stomach.

I learned later that Sheila had been charged with child abuse and attempted murder. The case made national news, but neither Rudy or Abby returned for me. I had thought then who could blame them, I had hijacked their real daughter's body.

I was put into foster care, that went as good as one might think. Some of the homes were good, most weren't. I don't talk much about those, though living with Sheila had technically been worse.

I was seven when Mr. Tanner became my foster father. I won't tell a lie and say he was some awesome guy who was totally misunderstood. He was a jerk. He only became a foster parent because the checks he received helped him pay back a gambling debt he owed.

In a weird way I'm still glad I ended up there. His gambling addiction after all kept me in one home and not moving all around, there were no older kids stealing my stuff and beating me up, no jealous old women who pointed out and highlighted everything you did wrong with harsh words and heavy hands, and most of all he wasn't some heart-broken witch obsessed with finding her long lost grandchild.

Mr. Tanner was alright with me.


	2. Chapter 2

**This story follows Cannon, but with obvious differences.**

From the moment I was tall enough to reach the stove I cooked breakfast and dinner for Mr. Tanner. I also did all of the cleaning in his small, ranch style home in order to avoid his nagging. It wouldn't be wrong to assume the man treated me like a servant most of the time.

The morning that also was the cannon episode one of the show that had turned into my life, I made breakfast as I normally would. Just oatmeal because I knew he hated it, I was sort of slyly getting back at him for stealing fifty bucks out of my checking account. As if I wouldn't have noticed. He already hogged the check from the government and it had pissed me off that he also deemed the money I made from slaving away at the grill his too.

"You know I hate oatmeal." He pointed out as he sat his briefcase on the kitchen table and sat a stack of papers on top.

"It has raisins in it." I said as if that would make up for it. "Besides, its the first day and we don't have time for anything else."

He had narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously. Sometimes he gave me weird looks like that, as if he were expecting me to shed my skin and turn into some sort of slimy creature. "What in the hell did you do to your hair?"

I subconsciously ran my fingers through my chin length, honey blonde hair. "I dyed it." I said with a roll of my eyes, it was pretty obvious. "Is it ugly?"

He snorted as he sat down heavily at the table. I sat the bowl of steaming oats in front of him after I limped over to him. "If that's the type of stuff you do with your money, you should just give your paycheck to me."

"So you can lose it all playing online poker?" I asked as I grabbed my cane from were it sat against the counter and sat across from him with my own bowl. Yeah, along with the scar on my stomach, a shattered knee cap was a reminder of Sheila's attempted murder of me. "You're a smart man, Mr. Tanner, I thought for sure you would have figured out that poker and you spells the power getting shut off for a week." Seriously, he had lost a game of poker to me when I was ten. He just wasn't good at it.

"Well, if I didn't have some ungrateful, smart mouthed _teen_ living with me, my power bill wouldn't be so high, now would it?" He shot back. "Where in the hell is the coffee?" He had looked around as if it would magically appear.

"We're out," I shrugged. "You didn't buy any, remember?" I hated coffee, I wouldn't buy it.

"You ungrateful, brat." He whined as he stood with his bowl and dumped it in the sink. "Its going to be your fault when I give those failures a hard time today, how will your peers feel about that?"

I actually smiled at that as I had slowly chewed my oatmeal. "You're the reason no one talks to me anyway."

He snorted again. He did that a lot. "Sure, keep telling yourself that." He wrenched open the fridge and poured himself a glass of orange juice. "It couldn't be they all seem to think you're _'weird_ '." He mocked what I guessed was suppose to be a teen girl's voice. He really hated kids, which always made me wonder why he surrounded himself with so many.

"Why did you hide the letter from the prison stating that Sheila was being considered for early release?" I didn't know why I had asked. I just remember it had weighed on my mind the whole night since I had found the letter tucked under some socks in his sock drawer.

I wanted to know why he didn't tell me. Was he trying to protect me from having to worry about that? Sometimes I thought or hoped rather, that he actually cared about me. Just so I would have one person in this whole fucked up world.

He finished his juice and didn't bring his gaze to me. "What good would that have done?" He questioned logically. "Even if she does get out there is a restraining order in place and she would have to be crazy in order to try anything." We both were quiet for a moment after he said that.

"I don't think you understand how much she hates me." I mumbled, not really meaning to say it aloud.

"She's a crazy old bat, but she's not that crazy." I had subconsciously rubbed my useless knee, lost in a slew of thoughts, all of them dark. "If you're not ready in ten minutes I'm leaving and you're gonna have to walk." He completely changed the subject as he came and picked up his briefcase and papers.

(TAP)

I had gone to school with most of the main characters from the vampire diaries my whole life, I just didn't have a whole lot to do with them. I was in the hospital most of kindergarten, so their was no childhood besties with Caroline and Elena. I mean, I was the weird kid who walked with a cane, no one wanted to talk to me.

I watched them grow up from afar. I wondered a countless number of times how would things fair for them without their resident witch to save the day. Caroline and Elena still were best friends, who grew up to be popular, pretty cheerleaders. Elena and Matt became a power couple, everything seemed to be setting up itself pretty cannon like, except for the lack of Bonnie Bennett in the middle of it all.

Like on the first day, I missed the whole bird into window shield, complaints about crazy grandmother's, and introductions into the world of hot back vampire. Unfortunately, I was in that history class, you know the one, and was smack dab in the middle of Elena and Stefan's sexy stare down.

Mr. Tanner was boring and I told him so after school as I watched him create a pop quiz for tomorrow before I left to go work at the grill.

"You know, if you were more interesting with your lectures kids would pay more attention to you."

"School is not suppose to be interesting, Vee." Oh, and I had told everyone I know, pretty much only Mr. Tanner, to call me Vee. He humored me because he was convinced Bonnie wasn't a real, proper name. I sort of think he also went along with it because he assumed my dislike for my name had something to do with Sheila and that whole situation. I hated being Bonnie. "You have shift to get to, I'm I wrong?"

"No, you're no wrong." I had said. "I was just wondering if you wanted me to bring you home something to eat after I get off."

"Ever so helpful," he waved me off, "whatever is fine. Don't be late, come straight home after work, no littering around with your friends." The smirk on his face told me he knew damn well I didn't have any friends and would without a doubt be home right on time. I told you he could be a jerk.

(TAP)

I know, I work at the Grill, very unique. Well, Mr. Tanner had known the manager, so it had been an easy job to get, I hadn't complained.

The only issue with working at the grill was the fact that for obvious reasons I was slower than everyone else, some assholes complained about that.

"What can I get for you, Caroline?" I had asked as I stopped at her table. She had just entered and Vicki was off having drama with Jeremy. She had looked up from her phone and smiled at me.

"Oh, hey, Bonnie!" She said perkily. I almost groaned. "How was your first day back?"

"It was fine." I said blandly and stared at her, wanting her to go on with her order.

"Okay..." She said slowly and stared back at me, then she had shrugged. "What do you think of the new guy?" I frowned and she rolled her eyes. "You know, the new guy. Its not everyday Mystic Falls gets eye candy like that."

I raised an eye brow. Sometimes Caroline did that, randomly pulled me into conversations. "I think Mystic Falls will see an influx of eye candy for the next few years." I said cryptically. "But the new guy?" I shrugged, knowing she meant Stefan. "I don't know, don't know much about him."

"Well, you're in luck, I'm here. His name is Stefan Salvatore. He lives with his uncle up at the old Salvatore boarding house. He hasn't been here since he was a kid. Military family, so they moved around a lot. He's a Gemini, and his favorite color is blue."

"That's... impressive..." I remarked slowly.

"I know," she gushed, "he's perfect. I'm thinking Mystic Falls High is about to have two power couples."

"I thought Elena and Matt broke up?" I had mentally sighed. I had looked around the Grill noting that the costumers that had come in were some of the ones that enjoyed giving me a hard time. I could listen to Caroline prattle along for a few minutes to avoid the inevitable.

"Yeah," she rolled her eyes, "but how long do you think it will last? They're made for each other."

"I don't know, I think it might hold." I mumbled distractedly. Caroline gave me a weird look. "I mean, you would know better, you're best friends with her and all of that." I rambled. "Uh, what can I get for you, Caroline?"

She finally gave me her order and I quickly scooted away in order to fulfill it.

I was juggling a couple of refills on a tray when Caroline called out to me. I told her to wait a minute before I returned to the table that had now housed, Elena and Stefan.

"Are you going to the party at the falls tomorrow?" Caroline asked me.

I leaned on my cane and stared at her. "Uh..."

"See, even Bonnie is going, Elena, you have to."

I blinked in astonishment as Elena finally sighed. "I guess I will." She said, gaze firmly locked on Stefan and his on hers.

Caroline squealed in excitement, forgotten, my purpose fulfilled, I slowly moved away from the table. I didn't mention that even if I didn't have to work the next day, how I wasn't going to that shitty party.

(TAP)

High school sucked even without the vampire, werewolves, originals and vampire hunters, teen boys could be hellish creatures all on their own. Which was how I found myself painfully hitting the floor, my cane clattering across the floor as a group of sweaty football players rushed down the hall. I didn't get an excuse me or an offer to help me up from any human in the hall, but I did get an offer from a friendly, concerned vampire.

I stared at Stefan's hand blankly for a long moment before my eyes finally moved to his face. He had seemed so awkward there, offering his hand and holding onto my cane with the other. "Uh, do you need help up?" He eloquently said.

"Yeah?" Was my beautiful, brilliant reply. I took his hand and he helped me back on my feet and handed me back my cane. "Thank you." I smiled gratefully at him.

"You work at the grill." He commented offhandedly.

I blinked in surprise. "I didn't know you noticed, not with the way you were staring at Elena." Sometimes I didn't have a filter between what I thought and what I said. My bad.

He looked embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I... I just noticed Caroline sort of forced your hand. I guess you're not really going to show up to that party, huh?"

I shook my head. "Gotta work," I shrugged, "I think I'm to old to be condoning, underage drinking and poor decisions anyway."

He seemed amused by what I said. "Really? Isn't that what us teens do, make poor decisions and drink underage?"

I shifted my cane from one and to the other, the groves along the handle dug into the scars on my palms. "I guess you're right." I shrugged. "You should really be getting to class, Mr. Tanner hates when his students are late." I changed the subject.

"Oh, yeah, you're in my history class?" He commented.

I sighed, sort of making a show of it as I rolled my eyes. "I sit next to you." I deadpanned.

He actually blinked in surprise. "Oh." I smiled a little at the lines that appeared on his forehead. "How about we walk there together? Make sure what happened before doesn't happen again." He motioned towards the direction the football players had disappeared."

"I've managed before you've gotten here, you know." I raised and eyebrow. He looked sheepish at the point I made. "But who I am to stop a young man from doing a good deed?" I smiled, mostly at the idea of him being young.

He returned the smile.

"The battle of willow creek took place at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls. How many causalities resulted in this battle? Ms. Bennett?"

I looked up at Mr. Tanner and away from the math homework I was doing. "I don't know." I said bluntly.

"Seriously?" He asked as if astonished I wouldn't know. "We went over this just this morning." He had, but I had never really listened when he gushed about history. "No, tv tonight. I better see you studying." I had gawked at him, he knew how I felt about tv. I watched an unhealthy amount when I wasn't in school or working. Something that had stuck with me from when I was with Sheila.

"That's not fair," I snapped.

He ignored me. "Mr. Donovan. Would you like to take this opportunity and overcome your embedded jock stereotype?"

My poor foster father was such a jerk. Its not his fault though, he just didn't know how to interact with others very well. I stopped listening because I knew how this would go, Stefan would hand Mr. Tanner a new asshole.


	3. Chapter 3

The following day I was relaxed and calm, happy I didn't go to that party after the news confirmed I was indeed living in the vampire diaries once again. I had only one thing I wanted to change about the show and that's was Tanner's death. Things were already different considering Bonnie Bennett wasn't Elena's best friend in this version of events, and I had no desire to right that either.

I had always been a sort of go with the flow type of person, meaning, I wouldn't insert myself into cannon situations, nor would I actively avoid them. I didn't avoid Elena, we just never became friends in the way original Bonnie and Elena had. I didn't have a close relationship with Sheila because she tried to kill me. Things just sort of worked out how they did.

But I was faced with my next conundrum at the start of what would have been cannon episode two, if I'm not mistaken.

Caroline had hooked her arm around mind quite out of nowhere, nearly making me stumble if she hadn't held on so tightly of me and my cane.

"Caroline," I breathed out in alarm. The blonde beamed at me.

"Did I ever tell you how much I love your hair?" She asked. She was now pulling me along down the busy hallway. I had stared at her. "No? You look great." She claimed. This had been unusual. Yeah, every now and again Caroline would randomly converse with me, but this was the third day in a row. I was right to start worrying then. We stopped in front of a locker, hers, and she held onto me as if she knew I would have tried to make a get away if she hadn't. She opened her locker as she spoke to me. "Are you physic or something?" She questioned bubbly. I was hit with a horrible feeling this had happened before, but I had no idea why. "You said their would be in influx in hot guys in Mystic Falls and I caught sight of one yesterday. He was so hot, all dark an-"

"older, danger sexy guy?" I finished with dread.

"Yeah? How did you know?" She turned to look at me. Her blue eyes widened dramatically. "Are you really physic?"

I gave her a dry look. "No," I answered. I thought really hard for a few minutes before I finally said. "Maybe you should find a nice boy close to your age, instead of a man that screams danger? You know, just a thought."

She shrugged and shut her locker. "Well, yeah, I know what I should do. I didn't get his number though or talk to him so I have no idea if he just looks dangerous _or_ is dangerous." She pouted as we began to move down the hallway again. "I was drunk and sad." She sighed. "I really need to get my life together, Bon."

"Don't call me that!" I snapped and we stopped abruptly. At her surprised expression, I forced myself to calm down, embarrassed. "I mean, you can call me Vee."

Caroline watched my face for a long moment, before she nodded and we continued on down the hall with Caroline talking about pointless things as we went.

(TAP)

Mr. Tanner sighed dramatically once he sat in the driver's seat of his car. I simply smiled at him.

"I assume you're off today?"

"What took you so long there was no football practice today?" I said motioning to the nearly empty school parking lot. "I have chores to do. I bank account password to change." I made sure to add the last part to make sure he knew that I knew he was in my account again.

"I was having a lovely conversation with the legal guardian of Elena and Jeremy Gilbert." He started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

"By lovely you mean you insulted her and made another enemy?" I asked.

The man snorted. "True, when you tell people the truth it does have the habit of insulting them." He said.

I merely shook my head. "Right," I mumbled.

"You cannot tell me you don't agree that those two are falling apart. The boy is selling and using drugs and the girl will likely end up in a toxic relationship or two." He ranted.

I laughed, loudly. Oh the irony.

(TAP)

It was pure bad luck I was getting off at the same time Caroline was rushing by, her arms full of candles.

"Bonnie, hey, Bonnie," she shouted when I pretended not to hear her the first time. I sighed as I finally stopped and turned to face her.

"Caroline, how are you?" I asked as she stalked towards me.

She grinned. "Good, good, you gonna watch the comet?" She motioned towards the gathering behind the grill.

"No, I'm just going to head on home. You know, having your teacher as a parent can be sort of rough, gotta be home on time." I lied.

"Oh, whatever," she rolled her eyes, "you're telling me about overbearing parents?" She shook her head. "Its fine, this is educational. Mr. Tanner will understand, come on."

"Mr. Tanner and understanding, ha," I mumbled as I followed her. Caroline laughed, but ignored me beyond that.

"Hey, I got some candles." Caroline greeted all of her friends. They all returned the greeting as she distributed the candles out. "I also brought, Bonnie."

That got the attention on me and I hated her for it.

"Hi, Bonnie," Elena greeted me with a kind smile.

"Bonnie," Matt also greeted. Stefan just smiled at me.

I gave them weak smiles in return.

"She never comes to things like this and she thinks I forgot she was a no show to the party, so I made sure she couldn't wiggle her way out of this." Caroline explained. "I think I'm going to make her my second best friend." She declared.

Elena rolled her eyes. "I think you'll have to ask her before you just decide that, Caroline." They all looked at me but I just stood there awkwardly with that stupid smile on my face.

"You know, that comet... its been traveling across space for thousands of years. All alone." Stefan commented, obviously speaking to Elena and no one else.

I frowned. Had he said that on the show? It was really lame. I quickly scooted away.

Caroline always struck me as one of those people who forced you to come to something then abandoned you in the middle of it. Of course she found me right when I was about to run home and dragged me back and into where a whole bunch of teen angst was happening.

Somehow I ended up with Matt on the great search for Vicki adventure, which really meant I was following behind him because he was moving to quickly for me.

"Hi" he greeted Stefan when we ran across him in the street.

"Hey" Stefan greeted back.

The tension between them had been annoying and I considered just walking away. I didn't, unfortunately. Stefan was seriously much to old to be have conflicts over a girl with Matt, a teen boy.

"Have you seen my sister?" Matt asked.

"No, sorry."

"I can't find her. She's missing."

Stefan frowned a little at that. "I'll keep a eye out for her."

Matt did move on like I hoped he would but knew he wouldn't. "I saw you at the hospital yesterday." It sounded like an accusation to me and by how Stefan's face went blank, he thought so as well.

"Did you?"

"What were you doing there?"

"Matt, that's not really your business," I finally interjected, "I mean, exactly like how this conversation isn't any of my business but I inserted myself in it anyway? Annoying, huh? I'm sure that's how Stefan feels right now. Let's just go, we're looking for your sister, remember?"

Matt frowned at me and I shrugged helplessly.

"Excuse me," Stefan said before he quickly walked away. I knew he was going to save Vicki and get emotionally abused by his brother.

"Let's head back to the grill," I said, "maybe she's back there now?"

Matt turned to look at me again, likely noting how I was panting and how my bad leg was shaking. He looked sort of guilty as he nodded.

"Yeah, come on."

(TAP)

"Uh, its just so much drama. Ever notice how the druggies are the biggest attention whores?" Caroline asked me. I was still at the grill, much to my utter hatred. I only stuck around because Caroline promised to take me home and after all of that walking after Matt, I didn't feel like walking.

"Teens are usually attention whores," I commented.

Caroline rolled her eyes. "You're a teen too, Bonnie." She reminded. Indeed.

"Excuse me. Hi." Stefan greeted us.

"You're looking for Elena," I guessed bluntly. "She's not here."

Stefan rubbed his forehead. "Uh..."

"Jesus," Caroline said as she reached for a napkin and wrote on it, "that's her cell number. Stop making the rest of us suffer with your will she won't she, crap."

Stefan brows rouse in surprise, but it was obvious he was just happy about getting Elena's number. "Thank you, Caroline. Bonnie." He nodded, then he was gone.

I turned to Caroline. "You're not in a good mood."

She shrugged. "I'm just sick of the Elena crap. She has two guys pinning after her. What do I have? Nothing."

"I don't have a whole lot going on either." I pointed out.

"Well, yeah, that's because you're not even trying. I just keep on making myself look stupid."

I didn't say anything to that and eventually I got her to agree it was time to head home.

"He literally came out of nowhere." I mentioned quite loudly once we were in the parking lot and Damon suddenly appeared. "That's suspicious, Caroline, like serial killer suspicious."

"Shut up," Caroline hissed, "that's the hot guy I was telling you about."

I obviously knew that.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you two." He looked from me to Caroline. The way his eyes lingered told me his target was without a doubt Caroline. The grip on my cane tightened.

"No, its fine. Um... I was hoping I would see you again."

Damon smirked darkly. "I know."

A chill raced up my spine. "Caroline," I quickly interjected, "I really have to get home."

She sighed and glanced back at Damon. "I do got to get her home. Can I see you again?"

I tugged on her arm before Damon could say anything. His gaze snapped to me and I could tell he was annoyed with my interfering. "Its a tiny little town, I'm sure you will. He seems like a drinker. The grill has a bar, I'm sure you'll catch him about three times a day drowning his sorrows in bourbon." I rambled, my nervousness messing with my filter.

Damon's annoyed expression thinned out and his eye brow raised. I knew I had accidentally gotten his attention, which in season one was not a good idea.

"She's right, I'm sure I'll see you around, Caroline." He said seductively. Caroline's whole body shivered. I pushed her towards her car. "And your little friend too."

We got into Caroline's car and drove away, but I knew the crisis hadn't been avoided at all.


	4. Chapter 4

I had been tempted to demand Caroline spend the night at my house, but that would have been weird. I couldn't outright tell her I wanted to stop her from being used and abused by a soulless vampire.

I didn't sleep that night, more worried then I thought I would be for Caroline. Yeah, she was a little selfish and self-centered, but what teen girl wasn't? She didn't deserve what Damon was going to do to her. Also, she was trying to be my friend. No one had ever tried to be my friend before.

Caroline hadn't come to school, which I knew would happen. Mr. Tanner was told off my Stefan again, and I was forced to sit through football and cheer leading practice because I knew Caroline would show up then, thoroughly under compulsion and under Damon's little fangs.

I watched my foster father be mean to children up until Damon's old, blue car pulled up and Caroline jumped out. I frowned deeply as she moved towards her team. I had no idea what I should do, I only knew I wanted to help Caroline. Vervain was the only way I could think of, but I had no access to that. I remembered there were some in the Salvatore's basement, but getting to it would be the problem.

I was relived to see she was okay, but I had to start planning on how I would break into the Salvatore house. I watched a lot of tv, and one show just so happened to show me how to pick a lot. I had decided I would help Caroline then just focus on keeping Tanner alive, nothing else. Those two people cared about me, even if it was just a little, I could return the favor.

(TAP)

I knew from watching the show that Elena threw a dinner party in hopes of getting Bonnie to like Stefan and Damon crashed it, which meant both Salvatore's were out of the house for a few hours. But since I was Bonnie now and Elena didn't give a damn if I like Stefan or not, I wasn't sure if that party was still going to take place. It was only when I overheard Elena mentioning something about having Stefan officially meet Jenna and invited him over for dinner did I assume things would still go how they did. I was sure Damon wouldn't miss an opportunity when it came to torturing his little brother and would crash the party yet again with Caroline.

My window of opportunity had been opened and I took it. There wasn't much to it, Stefan and Damon were off bothering each other and Uncle Zach was somewhere. I got in and out in less than fifteen minutes.

With that done, I would worry about how to get it to her later, first I had to do something much more important.

"Vee, you're being awfully clingy." Mr. Tanner stated dryly, as he looked at me suspiciously. I had been following him around most of that day. Forgoing lunch in the library and ate with him in his classroom. So obviously when I followed him onto the field on the first football game of the year, he noticed. "I've noticed you've been spending a lot of time with the beautiful but tragically dim Ms. Forbs, why not go find her instead of following me around, its not healthy."

I had been distracted. Nervous. I looked around, trying to catch sight of Damon in order to keep Mr. Tanner very far away from him. "What? Why wouldn't I want to spend time with the closest thing I have to a father?" I said distractedly.

When I looked back at Tanner he was looking at me strangely. I'm still not sure what it meant exactly. "Well," he cleared his throat. "Be that as it may, you have to spend time with people your own age. I have a game to coach."

I shook my head. "You won't even know I'm here." I forced a smile.

He frowned. "Are you alright, Bonnie?" He questioned, concern bled into his voice. "Why have you really been following me around all day? Is someone bothering you?"

I quickly shook my head again. "No, no, nothing like that. I just want to make sure you're alright, I mean you had that stomach ache earlier..."

He scoffed. "I'm fine." When I only stared at him he sighed. "If you must hover, do it on the side lines."

I guessed that was fair. "Just don't go anywhere." I told him. "Stay in public places only."

He had only waved me off.

"Can you believe that, Vee? She actually quit." Caroline continued to rant. "If you ask me its because it was the one thing she wasn't better at then everyone else. I'm captain, me. She just couldn't handle not being on top."

I had stared at the blonde. "You should really get back to captaining then." I said as I peered around her, she had been blocking my view of Tanner. My heart sunk when I realized he was no longer on the field.

I moved as quickly as I could to where I knew they would be. I made it just in time to see Damon sink his fangs into Mr. Tanner and I did the one thing I could think of to do. I threw my cane at him. He did drop a then unconscious Tanner roughly, likely out of shock more then anything else.

He was in front of me in seconds, his hand wrapped around my neck, blue eyes boring into mine. "You again?" He questioned, with dark amusement.

"Damon," Stefan growled in warning someplace. I couldn't take my eyes off of Damon. I had never felt fear like that before, no, I hadn't felt fear like that sense I had been a small child in this body as I stared down a blank faced old woman with a knife.

"You're going to turn around and walk back to the game. You didn't see any of this happen." My body shook and I continued to stare at him. He frowned. "Huh, interesting." He said once he realized the compulsion wasn't working.

Stefan finally pulled his brother off me. Damon bounced across the ground but bounced back onto his feet just as fast. "Damon, stop this!"

"Did you give her vervain too, little brother?" Damon questioned. "I'm surprised you care about anyone besides your precious Elena."

"What?" Stefan questioned, clearly confused. Then he looked back at me, realizing I hadn't followed his brother's compulsion. His shock was clear.

I ignored them both. "Tanner!" I called out as I rushed to the downed man. I could feel myself begin to cry as I wrangled out my cell. I don't even know what happened with the brothers, they both were suddenly just gone.


End file.
